Sioux Double Curve Plains Bow

[YewArcher]

This is a Sioux Bows based off of one of the bows in Hamm and Allely’s books.

It is an ash “double curve” plains bow. The bow is sinew backed and has shiny minerals in the last coat of hide glue to make the back shimmer (per the original artifact).

42” long and 44#@22”.

I made this bow to start practicing the “pinch” draw of the Plains Indians. I have some arrows with bobulous nocks that I am finishing up.

Here is the bow un-braced, back and belly (you can see a hint of the shimmer on the back)







Here is the bow braced. All of the Sioux bows I have seen and studied have had an extremely low brace height.



The top nock with the horse hair pin and tuft.







The bottom nock is spade shaped:





Its really hard to see the shimmer from the minerals in the photos. I did my best to try. Its pretty darn cool in person!











Here is the full draw:


The original had quill work at the tips as well. My quill work is still not good enough to put on a bow. One of these days I hope it will get better!

Thanks for looking,

Steve

[David Long]

Beautiful shape to that thing. What kind of minerals did you mix with the glue? Very nice bow. How accurately can you shoot such a short bow as compared to your longer ones? Dave

[armymedic.2]

pretty dang neat!  did u use a form or heat to put the double curves in?

[sailordad]

ok now i want one of these short,sinewed bows. not really for me although i will get use out of it. my mom expressed and interest
in an indian style bow to hang on the wall next to her husbands old guns,model 12 12ga and an old winchester lever action rifle( over 100 yrs old )both of which are still shootible weapons
i told her i would see what i could do. now i have never made one of this types of bows yet. i really dont feel comfortable enough to attempt this as of yet.
i really like those double curve bows i have seen posted, so ifn anybody has one they may be intersted in getting rid of please p.m. me and lets see
what we can work out on a trade.
like i said though,it will need to be a usible bow and not just a wall hanger as i will shoot it and try to get good with too not just hang it up for her.

thanks

                                                                             peace,
                                                                                    tim

[George Tsoukalas]

Congratulations on a beautiful bow. Jawge

[welch2]

Nice bow ,again Steve ,I like that big piece of baleen too.

Ralph

[medicinewheel]

nice bow!

[PeteC]

That's a really nice replica.How does it shoot?

[JackCrafty]

Awesome!

[Sidewinder]

Killer bow.  I can't imagine a better exicuted rendition. Not that I'm an expert cuz I'm not, but truely a fan of the design. I Bet its fun to shoot and one heck of a good ambush bow.  Are you getting comfortable with using the pinch draw?  I have'nt tried it yet. Danny

[Ryano]

Thats a nice little bow Steve. Good job.

[sumpitan]

One of the most beautiful contemporary bows I've seen.

Tuukka

[YewArcher]

David, I am not sure of the rock. My wife had some realy shiny stones from somewhere and we crushed them up and then I added it to the hide glue at the end of the sinew job.

Armymedic, Yes, I use heat to curve the bow. I use a form that has a few curves on it and do each curve by itself. If there is interstes in seeing the process then you guys let me know and I will post up a thred next time I do one.......wich should be in a week or so.

Welch, that baleen is cool right now it is slated for 2 double curved plains bows and a japanese short guards bow that I am trying to get mre detail on. If these is enough left over I will be making a greenland bow. There is not a lot of info on those though so we will see. Steve Moore Yewarcher recreating all the bows of the world! Ya!

PeteC, these all shoot real nice. I love them. They take some getting used to and a comitment to get the shooting style down.

Thanks there Ryano! and as you say Osage is better......if that was osage I would have drawn it 2-3" more. I let it stay at 22" as I have found the ash does not apricate the extreme overdraw. if osage was a person it would be a masochist as it loves to be punished. 


Sumpitan, Thanks! That is a very nice compliment. Thanks a lot.

Steve

[snakebow]

That bow is what I call a work of art. The sinew job is beautifull.

[DanaM]

Wowsa I love your work absoulutely stunning